MORTIMER, the pet jackdaw who went AWOL, is back home with his owners - just hours after a BEN appeal.

Thirteen-year-old Ryan White found his feathered friend perched on a wall at the back of the family's home in Rishton Lane, Bolton.

But Ryan and his mother, Deborah, say they have no idea where he had been since last weekend when he flew off into the blue yonder and didn't return.

The unusual pet, which was hand reared by Ryan after it was found injured beneath a nest at Clitheroe, was let out every day for a spot of free flying around Great Lever.

But, like a well trained cat, he always came home in time for supper.

Deborah, pictured right with Mortimer, said: "Just after our appeal in the Evening News he turned up.

"We think somebody may have thought he was a stray and took him in.

"We are thrilled to have him back. Ryan has even taught him to talk."

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